Japan: Inflation comes in at highest level since April in October
Inflation came in at 3.3% in October, which was up from September’s 3.0%. October’s reading represented the highest inflation rate since April, and was largely due to government cuts to gas and electricity subsidies
The trend was unchanged, with annual average inflation coming in at September’s 3.5% in October. Meanwhile, core inflation rose to 2.9% in October, from the previous month’s 2.7%.
Lastly, consumer prices increased 0.85% from the previous month in October, following September’s 0.27% rise. October’s figure marked the highest reading since April 2014.
Despite the uptick, our panelists expect inflation to average lower than in Q3 over Q4 as a whole, and continue to trend down next year before eventually falling below the Bank of Japan’s 2.0% target.